Today in Korean history

April 10

1900 -- Hanseong Electric, the country's first electric energy producer, which was established two years earlier, installs street lights for the first time in Jongno, the central district of Seoul, where the royal palaces of the Joseon Dynasty are located.

1919 -- The provisional government of Korea, established in Shanghai earlier to restore their homeland's sovereignty from Japanese colonial rule, meets for the first time and adopts a modern name for their country, Daehanminguk.

1957 -- Law students from Seoul National University announce a class boycott to protest the admission of Rhee Gang-seok, the adopted son of President Rhee Syng-man, to their school. The president's son was accepted to the highest-ranking university in the country without taking admission tests.

1979 -- The South Korean government begins construction of its second government complex in Gwacheon, 18 kilometers south of Seoul.

1991 -- South Korea approves the first direct trade with North Korea.

1992 -- A nuclear safeguards agreement between North Korea and the International Atomic Energy Agency goes into effect.

1995 -- North Korea opens direct telephone lines with the United States.

2000 -- South and North Korea simultaneously announce an agreement to hold their first-ever summit meeting in Pyongyang on June 15. The summit, held on June 2000, resulted in a series of inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation programs, including reunions of families separated since the Korean War and the opening of an industrial complex.

2008 -- The Soyuz spacecraft carrying South Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon docks with the International Space Station (ISS) two days after blasting off from Earth.

2013 -- South Korea announces that North Korea was behind the massive hacking attack that paralyzed networks of local financial firms and broadcasters in March. Three South Korean banks -- Shinhan, NongHyup and Jeju -- and their insurance affiliates, as well as three TV broadcasters -- KBS, MBC and YTN -- were hit by the cyberattack as malicious code infected some 48,000 computers in their networks on March 20.

2014 -- Ending a 15-year legal battle, the Supreme Court rejects appeals by 30 ailing smokers seeking compensation from KT&G Corp., the country's leading tobacco maker, saying there is no causal connection between smoking and lung cancer. Two damages suits were raised by 30 lung cancer patients and their families against the government and the company.

2015 -- Moody's Investor Service raises South Korea's credit outlook from "stable" to "positive" on improved public debt management by the government.
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